Handpicked experience · Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
An hour of bridges no two of which are alike, a drawbridge that stopped opening, and a bay whose islands were built to hold cannon.
Choose between the Asakusa and Odaiba route and get a chance to see a variety of attractions along the way.
An hour of Tokyo seen from water level rather than street level
A dozen bridge passages, each crossing built to a different design
Tokyo Skytree in full from the river, and Rainbow Bridge from the bay
Arrival directly at the Odaiba waterfront piers
A one-hour cruise on the Tokyo Mizube Line from Asakusa down the Sumida River and out into Tokyo Bay at Odaiba, passing under a dozen bridges on the way and ending at the waterfront piers.
Boats leave from the pier a few minutes' walk from Sensō-ji. Seating is indoors with large windows and there is deck space at the stern, which is where most people end up. The route is a scheduled service rather than a narrated tour, so the pace is calm and the interest is in what goes past.
The 1923 earthquake and the fire that followed destroyed most of the Sumida's crossings. The rebuilding programme took a deliberate decision: rather than repeat one design, each new bridge would use a different structural type. So in a single hour you pass beneath a self-anchored suspension bridge, tied arches, a cantilever and several plate girders, all built within a few years of each other. It is close to an open-air catalogue of 1920s bridge engineering, and it is the reason the river looks different every few hundred metres.
Near the river mouth, Kachidoki Bridge was built in 1940 with a bascule span that split in the middle and lifted for ships heading upriver. It opened several times a day for decades. As road traffic grew and river freight fell away, the openings became an obstruction rather than a service, and the last one was in the 1970s. The machinery is still inside.
When American warships arrived in 1853, the shogunate began throwing up artificial islands across the bay mouth and mounting cannon on them. Daiba means gun battery, and the honorific o- has stuck to the name ever since. The guns were never fired in anger; the forts were obsolete almost immediately. Two of the original islands survive, one of them now a public park you can walk onto.
Tokyo Skytree stands over the river bank at 634 metres. The number was not an engineering outcome but a choice: 6-3-4 can be read mu-sa-shi, the name of the old province that covered this part of the plain. From the water you get the full height in one frame, which is difficult from the streets beneath it.
At the Asakusa end, the black building topped with an enormous golden shape belongs to a brewery. It was designed in 1989 as a flame, mounted horizontally because the vertical version proved impossible to fix in place, and Tokyo has been affectionately rude about it ever since.
Board at the pier rather than at a stop, and arrive with time to spare, as departures follow a timetable and boats do not wait. Services can be suspended in high wind or heavy rain. The bay stretch is noticeably cooler and windier than the river.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. This is a scheduled water bus rather than a guided tour, so you watch the city go by at your own pace.
There is open deck at the stern alongside the indoor seating. On the bay leg it is markedly cooler and windier than on the river.
After the 1923 earthquake the rebuilding programme gave each crossing a different structural type on purpose. The result is a working museum of 1920s engineering strung along a single hour of water.
Daiba means gun battery. The islands were thrown up in 1853 to defend the bay against American warships, were obsolete almost at once, and never fired a shot in anger. Two survive.
Because 6-3-4 can be read as mu-sa-shi, the old provincial name for this part of the plain. The height was chosen for the wordplay, not derived from the structure.
Services can be suspended in strong wind or heavy rain. Departures otherwise run to a fixed timetable and the boats do not wait for late arrivals.
It covers the journey booked. A one-way ticket ends at Odaiba, where the piers put you within walking distance of the waterfront parks and shopping.